MOTHER-CHILD NON-VERBAL INTERACTION PATTERNS: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY (CHILDHOOD PSYCHOSIS, MOVEMENT, SPACE, MAHLER, SYMBIOSIS)

This study examines the movement patterns between normal and psychotic mothers and children from the standpoint of the separation-individuation concepts of child development of Margaret Mahler. Videotapes of three psychotic and two nonpsychotic children, aged between 3.3 and 5.6 years, were examined and observational comparisons were made concerning the approach, separation, individuation, exploratory, gaze, and molding behaviors and the body attitudes and effort qualities of the mothers and children. The manifested behavior within these parameters were then interpreted within the framework of Mahler's approach.; It was found that there existed well-defined differences between those dyads which contained and those that did not contain a psychotic child, particularly in the manner in which space was structured between the mother and child. In the dyads containing non-psychotic children, there was a mutual respect of personal space; emotional contact was maintained, but more through gaze behavior and speech than through direct contact. In the dyads containing a psychotic child, the mothers constantly intruded upon the children's personal space and the children negatively reacted to these intrusions. This spatial structuring denoted dyadic problems with the separation component of child development.; Differences of individuation were also manifested within the movement patterns. The body attitudes and effort qualities of the dyads containing non-psychotic children evidenced strongly defined personalities for both the mothers and children and clear relationships with the environment; in the dyads containing a psychotic child, both personalities and relationships with the environment were more diffuse. Moreover, the non-psychotic children were more able to initiate activities and engage in thorough exploratory behavior; the psychotic children were allowed to initiate few activities and at best engaged in a pseudo-exploration that was firmly controlled by their mothers.